Oak & Iron vs. Black Seas – Which should you choose?

Oak & Iron vs. Black Seas – both tabletop miniatures wargames with sailing ships… so what are the real differences between them and which one is “better”? Let’s look at some of the differences and similarities in the two games. As to which is better, that is subjective, so I’ll present the information and leave that decision to you.

If you would rather just skip to the end, click here for a table comparison as a TLDR Summary of the differences in Oak & Iron vs Black Seas.

Core Game Comparison

Each game comes with a starter set that contains the core rules, along with a number of miniatures to kickstart your game. Let’s take a high-level look at both of these core boxed sets and see how they compare. We will look at the positives and negatives of each game and what sets them apart from each other.

Scale: 1/600
Time Period: 1650-1750 A.D.
Golden Age of Piracy
# of Players: 2-8 players (2 or 4 recommended)
Game Length: 45-60 Minutes
Age: 12+
Publisher: Firelock Games
Price: $69.00

• 6 Ship Miniatures
  (Sloop, Corvette, Brigantine, Fluyt, Petite Fregate, and Light Galleon)
• 36 page Rulebook
• All the dice, cards, movement templates, stat cards
• A 3×3 poster game board
• Terrain markers

Scale: 1/700
Time Period: 1770-1830 A.D.
Napoleonic Period and Early American History
# of Players: 2-12 players (2-6 recommended)
Game Length: 30–500 Min
Age: 12+
Publisher: Warlord Games
Price: $90.00

• 9 Ship Miniatures
  (3 Frigates and 6 Brigs)
• 98-page Rulebook
• All the dice, cards, movement templates, stat cards
• An A0 poster game board (33 1/8″ x 46 13/16″)
• Terrain markers

Both starter boxes are equally matched in the scope of their contents. Additionally, for what you get in the box, both represent similar value for money. The Oak & Iron Core Box comes with 6 ships a rulebook, a playmat, tokens, and all the contents you need to play the game. Black Seas Master & Commander also contains all the content needed to play but holds 9 ships and a larger rulebook, which accounts for a slightly higher price.

How do Oak & Iron and Black Seas Ship Miniatures compare to each other?

The level of detail and the type of miniatures for both games is one factor that definitely sets the two games apart. This distinction is probably one of the chief decisions that may make the difference for you, depending on your style of play and expectations for the game. With regards to miniatures, Oak & Iron appeals more to a board game mentality, whereas Black Seas caters to the hobbyist or wargamer.

Oak & Iron Ship Miniatures

Oak & Iron minis have a clear base for movement, single-piece brown hulls, and fully assembled white sails. The game sets up quickly and your ships can be fully configured and ready to play with minimal effort. After the game, the ships can then be quickly disassembled for storage.

Despite their more simplistic, they are still highly detailed and have all the distinguishing features of the ships of the era. If you want to take your game to the next level they have plenty of features to make them a pleasure to paint and give them each a unique flare.

The sails are preattached to the masts and require no assembly. Also, because of the manufacturing process, the sails contain additional material making them directly attached to the masts. It is minor and not overly distracting, but it does affect the realism if you are focused on the hobbiest aspect of the models. If you wish to rig your ships, you will have to secure your own thread.

Black Seas Ship Miniatures

Black Seas miniatures are presented on sprues similar to model airplanes and automobile kits. They require a much heavier effort to get started in the game. There is no option to open the box and immediately start playing.

If you want to paint your ships, you will likely want to do that before fully assembling them as you cannot get at certain areas with a brush once they are assembled. This delays your ability to get started playing even longer.

One nice feature of the Black Seas miniatures is the ability to further customize the models and ability to make them more unique. The model sprues come with 3 different nameplate styles and 3 different figureheads. The models also feature optional anchors to add a layer of realism to the minis. Larger expansion pack models also include long boats that can be stacked on the ship’s deck.

Sails are preprinted cardstock giving depth of color and details helping them appear more realistic. All bottom sails are furled and unpainted, requiring you to be able to color match the preprinted sails. Thread for Rigging materials is provided. Some models also come with ratlines printed on clear vinyl. While 2D, they give the illusion of real rope.

Side-by-Side Comparison of Oak & Iron & Black Seas Minis

Factions & Nations

The timeframes for both games change the makeup of the factions available in the games so there is not a direct correlation between them. For instance, Oak & Iron takes place 50+ years before the United States of America was even born. Both games have a number of factions, each with a set of faction bonuses, admirals/commanders, and special abilities.

Oak & Iron Ship Factions

The Oak & Iron Core Rules boxed set contains 5 primary factions.

Black Seas Ship Factions

The Black Seas starter set contains 4 core factions shown below.

Additionally, there are expansion packs for the game that add access to Russian and Pirates/Privateer ships.

How Does Movement in Oak & Iron and Black Seas Compare?

Movement is a core mechanic for both games. In the age of sail, where ships harness the wind, the speed and maneuverability of each ship greatly affect the game’s outcome.

Oak & Iron

In Oak & Iron movement and turning are done with the same movement tool. Your ship’s base speed is determined by its current facing relative to the wind as shown to the right. There are purchasable speed upgrades when building your fleets and a possible initiative card bonus that can affect the ship’s speed, but all ships have a maximum speed of 5.

If you move too slow or too fast (Move 1, 4, or 5) you can only make up to a 30° turn. If you move Speed 2 or 3 you can make up to a 45° turn. By default, ships can only make a single move and a single turn per round. Ships may do a “Seaman Ship Action” per round to get an extra turn or speed up/slow down by 1 level. Some ships also have ability bonuses that allow them additional turn/movement distance and maneuver in adverse wind conditions.

At the end of your movement, each ship is marked with a Wake token to indicate that it has moved. Then during the combat phase, the Wake token is removed to indicate that it has finished its combat for the round.

Analysis/commentary: Having to constantly swap movement tools is a bit of a pain. If you stick with the game, buying a second starter set is a definitely plus to minimize having to pass the tools around the table.
The inconsistency in the distance moved between the various speeds is a bit baffling and seems arbitrary.
1 = 20mm
2 = 40mm
3 = 60mm
4 = 73mm
5 = 93mm
Until you have played a number of games, it can sometimes cause you to misjudge movement when repeatedly changing speeds.

Black Seas

Each ship in Black Seas has a move speed in Knots, each Knot representing a number of inches. A ship’s speed may also vary from one of 3 settings, Light Sails, Battle Sails, and Full Sails. Each speed level represents a single move. So a ship at Battle Sails may move 3 times, at the end of each move it may make one turn.

The angle of the wind coming from 8 different directions can affect the ship’s movement and adds a layer of accuracy but also complexity to the game.

Ships in Black Seas have one of two turning options represented by a yellow (30° turn) or red (45° turn) turning gauge. A cardboard template is placed at the base of the ship’s stern and the ship may be turned up to the maximum angle to change its heading. Ships with a yellow angle may only turn on their 1st and 2nd move per rd, red may turn after every move.

Analysis/commentary: For me, the turning gauge is a bit fiddly and inaccurate and can result in an opportunity for abuse by less scrupulous players. Because the rear of each ship type is a slightly different size, how you place the gauge and adjust your ship can result in inaccurate manipulation of the angle of sail.

The wake templates for indicating speed require significant care and handling. By design, they are supposed to be moved with ships and placed under the minis. However, because they are not attached to the ships and then ships don’t have bases it results in you having to pick up and set down your minis repeatedly or them tipping over. This is another area where it can cause one to reposition their ships ever so slightly in the name of moving/fixing their wake markers.

How Does the Initiative System in Oak & Iron and Black Seas Differ?

In many games, Initiative can make a significant difference in the options available to players and affect who wins in the end. As such, how games determine who goes first in a turn is important.

Oak & Iron Initiative

In Oak & Iron, before the game starts, each player builds a small deck of 5-8 initiative cards for their force. Players select cards from a pool of 18 “generic” initiative cards and 5 specific to the player’s chosen faction. Each card has a bonus that can affect their fleet for the round. Each card also has an Initiative value of 1-5. The higher the number the more likely you are to go first. Typically, the more powerful the bonus, the lower the initiative value. This is a trade-off of going first when needed vs delaying to get a potential advantage. This system adds a layer of strategy to the game that empowers the player to determine their fate rather than simple random chance.

Analysis/commentary: Occassionally, you will run into games where players repeatedly play the same value Initiative Cards resulting in a new Event every round. This is rare, but it is a mechanic that can occasionally skews the simulated realism of the game.

Black Seas Initiative

Black Seas initiative is arbitrarily based on the position of ships on the board. The ships closest to the source direction of the wind go first, regardless of which player controls them. This system greatly relies on your initial deployment in the game and random shifts in the wind direction.

Analysis/commentary:
This for me causes a number of issues. If you deploy incorrectly or the wind shifts, your opponent suddenly has a massive, MASSIVE advantage.

• If you find yourself completely downwind of your opponent, this means they move and shoot with 100% of their fleet before you get to move a single ship. Your ships can become severely damaged or disabled before you have the ability to correct the issue and defend yourself.
• Opponents with a wind advantage can blockade your movement and force you to remain downwind, allowing them to keep their advantage.
• You have little to no recourse or ability to strategically overcome the disadvantage of initiative.
• If you use the “Sailing in Lines” Advanced Rules, the game becomes even less balanced. All ships in sailing lines activate, move, and shoot as a single unit. That means if you have 5 ships in a line, they all activate and can absolutely decimate an opponent before they can react/return fire.

How Does the Ranged Combat in Oak & Iron and Black Seas Compare to Each Other?

In a game of naval combat, you will obviously have ranged combat. Both games involve ships laden with cannons, muskets, and mortars, lobbing lead and metal at each other in a variety of ways. Each game dedicates several pages to in-depth combat and a variety of weaponry, so we will cover only a high-level overview of each game.

Oak & Iron Ranged Combat

In Oak & Iron, there are two types of ranged attacks, Broadside and Partial Fire. Each ship has a Broadside and Partial (Crew) stat representing the number of dice they roll in the attack. Broadsides reflect cannon barrages from the side fire arcs of the ship and require Reload actions. They have a longer range and do more damage. Partial attacks include the use of small arms, swivel guns, and bow/stern chaser guns. In addition, Partial Shots have a 360° fire arc, but a shorter range (Musket distance). All ranged attacks in the game use the same range ruler. Ranged combat uses custom d8 dice with pictures on their face. The ruler shows pictures that reflect hits for each range band. Some ships’ upgrades and abilities can affect the success/failure of hits but overall ranged combat is simple and straightforward thereby keeping play fast and simple.

Analysis/commentary: The game suffers a bit by not having bow/stern chaser guns separate from Partial Fire. Partial fire feels a little flat and it is an area where a few minor changes could improve the simulation aspects of the game. The Reload mechanics and it’s overlap with other crew actions can limit your ability to rally and repair to keep your ships afloat. It takes a bit of time for new players to learn how to balance some of those mechanics.

Black Seas Ranged Combat

Ranged combat has multiple factors to consider which affect aspects of range, damage, and accuracy. Each ship has a series of fire arcs and weapons assigned to each. Ships may fire out of multiple arcs, with success penalties for firing from multiple fire arcs. Ship crew skill affects accuracy. Raking & Point Blank shots do double damage and if a Stern Raking shot at Point Blank does triple damage. The game has 4 primary ranged weapon types and optional rules for musket small arms fire. Each weapon type rolls a different color die and uses a different range and damage type. This adds a layer of complexity, but also adds a depth of accuracy to the game.

Analysis/commentary: The ranged attack mechanics have a broken mechanic where a roll of a 1 is an automatic critical hit, regardless of the difficulty to hit (lower # are greater difficulty). For instance, if you can only hit on 1 due to range, weather, etc, your hit (which should only be a hit) is automatically a critical hit. Secondly, that critical hit also does special damage and creates catastrophic effects.

How Does the Boarding Combat in Oak & Iron and Black Seas Compare to Each Other?

Oak & Iron’s simple boarding mechanics allows a ship to grapple another vessel within “Yard Arm” distance (the width of the Range Ruler). After grappling, they may make a Close Combat attack equal to a Ship’s Crew Score + 3D8 +upgrades/faction bonuses. Boarding attacks the Fatigue of a ship and can lead to its surrender/capture. The boarding mechanics are a little weak as they offer the defending ship few options to defend itself. Opponents must either attempt to cut free or attack back on their own turn. Therefore, it can occasionally lead to one (or more) smaller ships swarming larger vessels to capture them quickly.

Boarding in Black Seas allows for much better back-and-forth combat and does a better job of taking the size of the ship and crew into consideration. However, it requires a bit more complicated math. Both ships get to make an attack by rolling a D10 based on the ship’s current health divided by 10 + 1 for the first activation + upgrades + optional rules and the difficulty varies by crew skill. Each hit does 2 damage, Crits do 4 (Roll a 1). Finally, after the attack, the ship that took the most damage is at less than half of its initial Ship Points, must pass a Skill Test or surrender. If the Ship Points go below its Break Value, it will automatically surrender. 

How Do the Weather Mechanics in Oak & Iron and Black Seas Compare to Each Other?

Weather in Oak & Iron is controlled purely by Event Cards. When players tie during the Initiative Phase an Event card is drawn. These events can include weather effects such as fog, rough seas, and changes in wind speed and direction. The wind is positioned on one of the 4 sides of the board and can only shift 1 side per event

In Black Seas, the weather gauge can shift once every round. Roll 2D6. On a 2 the winds calm and ships take a -2 speed for the round, 3 the wind shifts 1 step clockwise, 4-10 No change, 11 shift 1 step anti-clockwise, 12 all ships speed up by 1 for the round. There are no special weather conditions in the base game, but there is an optional advanced rule that allows a D6 to be rolled at the start of the game to set conditions from smooth as glass, calm, rough seas, and stormy. The advanced weather rules have effects on the ship’s weapon damage results and can inflict damage or swamp smaller ships.

How Does the Fleet/Army Building in Oak & Iron and Black Seas Compare to Each Other?

Both games are extremely similar in their force-building process.

Game Variety & Scenarios

Black Seas has 13 premade scenarios included in the base rulebook. They also offer a supplement “Hold Fast!” that contains 16 new scenarios for $40. These are creative and have a wide variety of content allowing you to change up the game a bit.

Oak & Iron takes a slightly different approach and offers a card system of 4 small decks that generates scenarios using a more random method to determine starting settings/terrain, objectives, deployment zones, and conditions. This increases the replayability of the game by introducing mechanics that help keep it fresh and new. There is also an additional library of Oak & Iron game scenarios on TimberAndSail.com.

What Does Oak & Iron Have That Black Seas Does Not?

Fortune Tokens

During a game of Oak & Iron, each player gets 3 Fortune Tokens. Fortune Points can be used to re-roll any Skill Test or Attack roll made throughout the game. This helps players try to overcome bad luck or take a risk for greater glory on a re-roll.

Random Events

If there is ever a tie on Initiative, a card is drawn from the Event Deck spawning a random event that affects the game such as the wind speed or direction shifting, good/ill omens, confused orders, etc. This keeps the game interesting and presents some randomness to the game to keep it interesting. The card system helps keep it fast-paced without having to look at a table.

What Does Black Seas Have That Oak & Iron Does Not?

Fortifications

Black Seas has 5 different fortification types and super basic rules for using these land defenses in your game. They are essentially little more than immobile ships with minor differences. Only 1, the Martell Tower, is currently available in the Scenery Pack Expansion for $62.

Fire

There are rules for fires from critical hits and their ability to spread when multiple ships become entangled.

Multiple Ammo Types

There are 4 additional special ammo types that can be added to the game with optional rules.

• Grape Shot -If within 3″ of the target, each hit inflicts 4 points of damage but does no critical damage. They also add +2 to the To-Hit target of the ship’s first boarding action that Turn,
• Double Shot – The range of all guns becomes 8″ and has a -1 to hit. Hits do double their damage but do not inflict critical damage. This damage is tripled at point-blank range (3″), or quadrupled if at point-blank range and the shot is a stern rake. This is EXTREMELY powerful when using larger ships.
• Chain Shot – When aiming high it lowers the difficulty of hitting the rigging and doing critical hit damage.
• Red Hot Shot – If any shot fired with this ammo type does a Critical Hit, it also causes the ship to catch fire. However, if you roll a 10 on any of the to-hit roll dice, the shot is dropped during loading and your own ship is also on fire! 

Bonus Artwork and Historical Content

The Black Seas rule book has several pages dedicated to a mini history and battles of the Carronade Era. They have a ship identification guide, graphics explaining the parts of ships masts and hull, graphics teaching you the types of sails of the era. There is a beautiful two page diagram with a cutaway of the HMS Victory allowing you to get a feel for the layout and inner working of a ship in that era. it provides a short overview of the crew positions and military ranks within the English Royal Navy.

The TLDR Summary of Oak & Iron vs Black Seas

The following chart breaks down the comparison of the two games in a quick summary so you don’t have to read the whole article.

Item

Starter Box Price (MSRP)

$69

$90

Speed of Play

Ease of Learning Rules

Replayability

Fairness/Balance of Play

Simplicity of Game Play

 

• Cards system simplifies outcomes

• Several items require referencing charts for resolution

 

• Less stacking of modifiers

• Several modifiers are based on multiple conditions

 

• Consistent Mechanics

• Mechanics are more complex to better reflect accuracy

Rules line up well with historical reality

Ship Model Detail & Quality

Ship Model Variety

 

• 6 different Minis/Ship Types

• 9 Minis of 2 Types

 

• 12 Total Ship Types w/Expansions
• 6 Coming 2023

• 19 Total Ship Types w/Expansions

 

• 2 Unique Ships w/Expansions

• 20+ Unique Ships w/Expansions

Ship Model Customizability

Ranged Combat System

Boarding Combat System

Fortifications Rules

Artwork

Factions & Nations

5

4

+2 expansions

Faction Balance

Tournament Playability / Balance

Initiative System

Unique Commanders

3-4 per Nation/Faction

2-3 per Nation/Faction

Fleet/Army Building Mechanics

Fleet/Army Variety

Ship Statistic Customizability

Conclusion

We hope the above has helped you to make a more informed decision about which game will better fit your style of gameplay and interest. The analysis above is meant to be as objective as possible, when subjective opinions were offered they were clearly noted. The rules were read in-depth. both games were played repeatedly and a large amount of research when into breaking down both game systems. Players of both Oak & Iron and Black Seas were interviewed and their opinions were taken into question. If you have opinions or suggestions to add, you are welcome to comment below.

Additional Articles of Interest

• If you’d like to read the rules, we have the Oak & Iron Rulebook (PDF) & Glossary / Quick Reference Sheet available for download here. Unfortunately, the rules for Black Seas are not free. So if you are interested you will have to either buy a Black Seas starter set or pay to download the digital PDF form Warlord Games
• Oak & Iron Ships: The Ultimate Guide ship reviews, stat cards, and analysis.
• Collection of multiple Strategy & Tactics Guides for Oak & Iron

Amazon Referral Links

• Black Seas Master & Commander Starter Set
• Oak & Iron Core Boxed Set